Keeping Track of Your Rewards

I’ll eat
almost anything except for Brussels Sprouts.Somehow, I grew out of my hatred for peas, broccoli, and other green
vegetables that kids aren’t fond of, but my adult hatred of Brussels Sprouts is
boundless.

My mother
made me a deal once.She told me that
for every ten of those little green pods that I would eat, she would take me
out for ice-cream!The only trouble was;
I could only manage two of the little green orbs at any one time.From that first meal forward, I counted.It took more than a month before we finally
had file meals with Brussels Sprouts, but I made it.Ten!After dinner I approached my mother, asked her for ice-cream, and was
devastated to learn that she FORGOT!Eventually, she did buy me some ice-cream, but I had to state my case
and describe in detail the ordeal of chewing and swallowing ten lousy sprouts
over the last several weeks.

There are a
zillion ways for Hotels and Airlines to lose track of your Rewards points and
your frequent flier miles.For example,
the clerk at the J.W. Marriott in San Francisco a few weeks ago was quick to
open a separate account for me for my incidentals (non-expensible items), but
at checkout time she lost the main folio from the account with the room rates
on it.I was presented with a bill for
$14.33 for the entire week… I talked to the desk manager and he was able to
find the other folio for $1,498.When I
got home, I logged in and completed my expense report and that was that.Or so I thought…

I checked
the balance of my Marriott Rewards account later and learned that they only
credited my account with the points from the smaller “incidentals” account!“What?” I thought, “I stayed a
week in a J.W. Marriott and I only got 146 points??”It was Brussels Sprouts all over again!So, I called Mr. Michael Wlodkowski, the site
manager for that hotel (who, by the way, knows exactly who I am because his
hotel is the same hotel with the crazed turn-down service lady who snuck into
my room after 10pm to wake me up for some chocolate… Mike and I have spoken
before).

It turns
out, she opened the two accounts for me, but she failed to apply my Marriott
Rewards credentials to both accounts!What’s
the lesson?At check in AND at check
out, make sure you ask the desk clerk, “Oh, can you make sure my
Hilton/Hyatt/Marriott points account number is on this new account as
well?”1,500 points will get you a
lot more “ice-cream” from the Rewards catalog than 140; even if you clean your
plate!

EXTRA: If you have
questions for Ken regarding business travel, hotels, airplanes, etc, please send an
email! Your questions will be recorded and Ken will answer the
best ones in his Ask the
Expert podcast show.